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Hotchkin family genealogy

John Hodgkin (or Hotchkin) of Guilford, CT, and his descendants.

by Geoffrey Brown

 

Important Information for Hotchkin Family Members

The first edition of our own John Hodgkin (Hotchkin) of Guilford, CT, and his Descendents is no longer available in hard cover.  As well, Edgar Hotchkin's  The descendants of John Hotchkin of Guilford, CT is believed to be still available in limited quantities directly from the author of that work.  Nonetheless, people continue to request copies of our original Hotchkin genealogy.

In response to those requests, we've made it available as a download.  Please see our New Haven County, CT page for ordering information -- click HERE to go to that page now.

If you would like to purchase Ed Hotchkin's book directly from him, you can click HERE to visit Edgar Hotchkin's web site and get information on additional work he has done with related lines. 

Also available for download is "Noted Women of the Genesee Country" -- a speech by Mary Hotchkin Hoag (undated).  See our Genesee County page for this one.

We have recently re-published an important book by a Hotchkin:  James H. Hotchkin's 1848 The History of Western New York Please Hotchkin: The History of Western New York to read about this important project.

A little about Hotchkin genealogical research:

Until 1988, the descendants of John Hodgkin (or Hotchkin), arrived in or before 1642 in Guilford, New Haven Colony, Connecticut, had not been collected in book form.  Some had appeared in articles in genealogical periodicals, and Hotchkin descendants had figured in books about other families.  However, until the "first edition" (produced with the great assistance of the late Audrey Carver and Elsie Moon) appeared, anyone studying their Hotchkin descent was condemned to flail about trying to sort out Hotchkins (and Hodgkins, and Hochkins, etc.) from the New Haven family of Samuel Hotchkiss.  That family, fortunately, is well documented by the Hotchkiss Family Society. Two small private printings of the 1988 volume (pictured below),  under Library of Congress Catalog Card number 88-70416, then, was the first Hotchkin book.  

The number of people who contributed to that volume is large.  Indeed, your author felt confident that if there was anyone in the United States who was researching Hotchkin (or any variant), their material was included. Elsie and Audrey participated enthusiastically in ensuring that we had everyone covered.  Even the Hotchkiss Family Society pitched in, actively referring everyone who inquired of them who seemed to be a Hotchkin to us. They checked their correspondence files for decades back for anyone who might have information but no longer be active. 

It will surprise no one who has done this kind of research that very soon after publication another Hotchkin researcher came to light.

Edgar Hotchkin, who was previously unknown to all of us, obtained a copy of the original book.  As soon as he saw it, he recognized some significant omissions based on his research of his own Hotchkin line.  Then, having recently retired, he and his wife undertook a three year cross-country odyssey, collecting additional Hotchkin material.  The result was his impressive  The descendants of John Hotchkin of Guilford, CT.  So, in a mere six years, the Hotchkin family went from no books about the family genealogy to two.  Presumably we ought to let well enough alone at this point.  
Edgar Hotchkin concentrated heavily on the male lines -- lines that bear the Hotchkin name today. That has the effect of reducing by half the number of descendants to catalog, and greatly simplifies research -- particularly yDNA research.

However, in these times it is worse than simply being politically incorrect -- it invites future error.  As a descendant of a so-called "spousal line"  (i.e. the descendant of someone named Hotchkin who happened to be female), and as the father of a daughter, somehow it didn't seem right to your author to leave all those people out who were really Hotchkin descendants, but no longer bore the Hotchkin name.  One need only glance at the weddings in the Sunday New York Times to realize that many young brides today elect to keep their own names when marrying instead of assuming their husband's name.  Many children today are assigned double surnames and sometimes even less predictable ones -- such as a surname of an admired childless friend.  

Given this, a mere twelve years after the first edition of this author's John Hodgkin (Hotchkin) of Guilford, CT and his descendants, Ed Hotchkin began research in his distaff lines, as did we begin a new Hotchkin study that incorporates the whole shebang, so to speak.

Sooner or later, we may have a compilation of ALL descendants of John Hodgkin of Guilford, CT.  It will include not only those with the Hotchkin surname but also all spousal lines.  We would like to include collateral lines as well. As such it may be potentially important as a source for "hidden geneaologies". 

Although our project to consolidate it all is currently inactive, Ed Hotchkin has certainly done some excellent additional work.  There is a link to his website at the top of this page, and we encourage you to take that line and check it out. 

Original Hotchkin book

If your name is "Hotchkin" why not investigate DNA testing to learn more about your family?


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Much genealogical DNA research is grouped by surname, and while the Hotchkin/Hodgkin name is fairly uncommon, there is a surname project that has claimed the Hotchkin/Hodgkin name variants.  Groups such as this are useful because the provide a central point where the yDNA of similarly surnamed families can be compared and unexpected connections located.  You may wish to contact the Hodgens surname group for more information.  Their website is located at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/hodgens/

Some news, located in the National Archives, may shed light on the origin of a number of Americans who bear the Hotchkin name but have not previously been claimed by the family. These are the so-called "Black Hotchkins".  These folks mainly originated in the American South and Southwest, and often with family traditions that are strongly Native American.  We THINK we have the answer.  Yes, the Black Hotchkins are indeed our family members.   
We did prepare an index of where we were when we stopped work on our newest Hotchkin project a few years ago.  It's here, and you should feel free to check it out.

Hotchkin index - click here to see the Index as it is right now!!

But before you download it, be aware that the index alone is over 100 pages long.  If you have a slow line, don't expect it to pop onto your screen immediately.  However, downloading the index is still a good idea if you are serious about Hotchkin ancestry.  That way, you'll be able to see if the people, places, or organizations that you hope to find in the second edition are here. 

1. There is a FTDNA Hodgen family project that specifically includes the Hotchkin variant.  (Simply type "Hotchkin" in the box to connect to that group.)

2. You can join the YahooGroup for the Hotchkin family (it's an e-mail group).

3.  If you're among the millions who are now members of Facebook, you can join the Facebook Group called "Hotchkin Genealogy".

and

Keep checking back here every so often to see what's going on from our end of the Hotchkin family world.  For example, we would like to re-publish MORE works authored by Hotchkins!

And, don't forget, you can download a copy of our FIRST Hotchkin family book from our New Haven County, CT page, which is HERE.

There's a  HOTCHKIN mailing list on Yahoo!Groups.  If you're interested in this family, why not join it?  Click the link below to do it:

Send an e-mail to hotchkin-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

       

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